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Bus driver did not turn around to see child, investigation reveals
Published Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The bus driver who left a 4-year-old student unattended on a bus for four hours Tuesday did not even turn around to see the child still there, an investigation revealed.
The student is enrolled in the Florence Bowser Elementary School Early Start program.
The bus driver dropped students off at Florence Bowser, and then went to park the vehicle at Northern Shores Elementary School around 9 a.m., according to Bethanne Bradshaw, public information officer for Suffolk Public Schools.
The driver failed to walk to the back of the bus to check the seats for any children left onboard, which is “consistently emphasized at all of the drivers’ training,” Bradshaw said.
Initially, it was assumed the boy had fallen asleep and sunk below eye level in his seat, but the video showed the driver simply never looked behind to see the boy still there.
Another bus driver found the boy around 12:55 p.m. after returning to get a bus from Northern Shores.
The boy was brought back to Florence Bowser, where he was given lunch and seen by the school nurse. His parents were immediately called.
Bradshaw said the boy seemed to be unharmed.
Bradshaw added that the boy’s teacher asked classmates if they had seen the boy on the bus, but the children could not recall.
“We regret that this had to happen, and we will continue to do everything we can to prevent these things from occurring again,” Bradshaw said. “We take very seriously our job to protect a child, all 14,000 we have in our school division.”
The bus driver has been placed on administrative leave until the school system’s investigation in complete. As a part of that investigation, officials have viewed the video footage from the bus’s video camera.
Additionally, Social Services and Child Protective Services are investigating the incident, because a child was left unattended.
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Comments
Posted by OD (anonymous) on March 26, 2009 at 7:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Lets see another case of child neglect? I wonder what I think should be done. The other week you had a 35 year old man child charged with DUI and doing doughnuts with his truck while his 6 year old was a passenger We had so called parents have a child die/murdered by or because of neglect. And now you have another "responsible" adult neglecting a child. You dont want to go down that street if you are going to defend this responsible adult. Thank goodness that it wasnt in the 90's and that bus becoming a oven. But some one will say he/she made a mistake Well so did Ted Kennedy and Mary Jo Kopechne died because of his mistake. Some gang banger sticks a gun out the window of a car or just walks up and starts shooting, that to is just a mistake? Its called making a choice and this person made a choice to not perform the job descripiton that is full of responsibility and it was ignored by a "responsible" adult.Let their kid be the victim of something like this and they too wil be calling for the heads of others who didnt do their job in a responsible manner.Another innocent child is victimized by a "responsible" adult. Take a real look back over the last several weeks of what has taken place where kids have been involved. Its scary folks..
Posted by misssmd (anonymous) on March 26, 2009 at 10:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I I thank God the child didn't get sick or get off the bus and wander into the streets. So much could have happened. I'm more concerned about what can be done 'asap' to prevent this from happening to another child. Like, the system the schools have set up to notify parents when your child doesn't come to school. I have gotten calls as late as 6:30pm. My child could have been anywhere by 3:45 he gets home. I think that can be much better if parents are notified sooner, just in case something does happen to one of our children. Most of the kids are in school by 9:00, so start calling by 9:30. After all the children are my greatest concern. As for the driver we all make mistakes/rush too much. This cannot and will not be accepted for whatever the reason. Being removed from the job should be enough.
Posted by OD (anonymous) on March 26, 2009 at 10:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
missmd: We have become a society of ME ME ME I agree that loss of employment is fitting.
Posted by faithful (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 4:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I agree that It was an unfortunate thing to happen to any child. I do thank God that the child was not hurt in any way, perhaps a bit frighten, but not harm. I'm not excusing what the driver did, yes she was wrong. We have to learn to accept responsibility for our actions, and take our faults and learn from them. I'm sure the driver is very sorry for her actions, and if she could take that day, or four hours back, she would. I agree that loss of employment is enough
Posted by mel1964 (anonymous) on March 27, 2009 at 9:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Crazy!!! This driver does not need to be on administrative leave--- she or he needs to be fired. I hate to say that because the economy is tight and SPS needs bus drivers. It would be interesting to find out if the bus driver was on their cell phone as they were getting off the bus.
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